


Daijōbudesu ka? (No, but I will be)

by stereden



Series: Watashitachi wa Roger kaizoku desu [5]
Category: One Piece
Genre: AU of my AU, Buggy tells Shanks about Ace, Buggy was a Roger Pirate too, Competent!Buggy, Gen, I still regret nothing, More Feels, Shanks and Buggy friendship, Shanks is not drunk enough for this, WARNING FOR FEELS, again they're pirates not nuns, alcohol and swearing warning, and so was Shanks, baterilla is mentioned, bitter!Shanks, if i'm having feels i'm taking you all down with me, neither is Buggy, protective!Shanks, sharing is caring, still here trying to make this tag a thing, the Shanks reaction story, this is STILL anon's fault, which grew into this monster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-06 17:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16836934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stereden/pseuds/stereden
Summary: “To interesting brats taking over the seas?” Buggy suggests, raising an eyebrow.“May they make the Marines’ lives very interesting indeed,” Shanks aggrees, because he’s not above being petty and cursing the Marine with a ‘may you live in interesting times’ sounds like something Rouge would approve of.They raise their bottles in a toast to future hellions.“Wait!” He says suddenly, turning to face Buggy properly. “How the hell did Captain manage to convince the Queen of Spade that he was worth her time?”“Hell if I know,” Buggy shrugs.There’s a pause, and then their eyes meet and suddenly they’re laughing, laughing until they are crying, because it’s just. It’s been that kind of evening and Shanks has gone through all kinds of emotions tonight but this still completely baffles him and that’s hilarious.





	Daijōbudesu ka? (No, but I will be)

**Author's Note:**

> This AU of my AU is taking over my life and it's all Anon's fault! All hail them and despair. Or rejoice. Your choice.
> 
> Anyway, this is the promised story about Shanks' reaction to Buggy telling him about Ace's existence. It's also my first time trying to write Shanks' POV, so let me know what you think!
> 
> Again, as is becoming usual in my works, please be warned that there are feels ahead and that you may want to prepare yourself for that. Shanks is not quite as bitter as Buggy... but he's bitter on Buggy's behalf on top of his own, so, you know. This still isn't very Roger Kaizoku friendly.
> 
> Also have I mentioned yet that I adore writing Buggy and Shanks interactions? Because I DO and I can't wait to write some of it from Buggy's point of view, either in the main fic or in those AU's of my AU.
> 
> Also, TRIGGER WARNING. There's discussion of Baterilla, death of children and pregnant women, as well as discussion of possible suicide wish on Gol D Roger's part.
> 
> Title is supposed to mean "Are you alright? (No but I will be)". Again, if anyone who speaks Japanese can tell me if Google translate completely missed the mark, that would be awesome :)

It’s a day like any other on the Red Force. They found some nice treasure hoard two days ago after kicking some asshole’s ass, and the after party is only just winding down when Shanks’s denden mushi rings. He’s not expecting anyone’s call, but he’s still more than a bit drunk and high on their victory and he doesn’t check who’s calling as he picks up the receiver.

“You have reached the Red-Hair Pirates, providers of mayhem and parties! What can we do for you today?” He greets his mystery caller cheerfully.

“Hey.”

Buggy. Buggy is calling him outside of their predetermined monthly calls and he sounds exhausted and weary and his voice is rough like he’s been crying recently and is trying to hide it.

(Shanks tries very hard not to think about why he knows exactly what Buggy sounds like when he does that.)

It’s a matter of seconds to purge the excess alcohol from his system through careful application of haki and to lock himself in his soundproofed cabin.

“Buggy? Are you okay?” Shanks asks, and he doesn’t even try to hide the worry from his tone because this is Buggy, Buggy who knows him better than anyone else in this fucking world and Shanks doesn’t need to play the eccentric Yonko with him.

(Five years as cabin brats together, two years floundering as they waited for Captain to come back, two more years with only each other to rely on after Captain’s execution, and there’s no one else in the world who will ever come close to knowing him as well as Buggy knows him. Not even Benn, for all that his first mate is a surprisingly good match for him.)

Buggy doesn’t answer his question, but he doesn’t try to pretend everything is okay either, and that, more than anything else, is what makes Shanks want to track him down immediately because Buggy only stops trying to even pretend he’s fine when he’s really really not.

“Can we meet? There’s something you need to know.”

“When and where?” Shanks replies immediately, already grabbing a map from his desk and getting ready to trace the shortest route to wherever his friend was because there was no way he was going to deny Buggy this, not when it was so rare for him to actually reach out and ask for a meeting.

(Fuck the rest of the Roger Kaizoku for destroying Buggy’s self-esteem like they had, fuck them for abandoning them after Captain’s execution, fuck that fucking storm that had separated them in the middle of the fucking New World while they were trying to escape from one of Captain’s old enemy, fuck the three years during which Shanks hadn’t known if his best friend, his brother in all but blood, had died that night or in the time since they had last see each other, fuck whatever had happened to Buggy in those three years that had left him with a haunted look in his eyes and a refusal to ever leave East Blue again.)

At least the Red Force is close to Sabaody already, it should only be a matter of days for him to get through it and to East Blue if he bullies a Seaking into taking him across the Calm Belt.

There’s hesitation at the other end, a sharp intake of breath, and then:

“You know that island where we first saw each other again?”

Shanks’ breath hitches.

Depa’s a smallish island, with only a couple of small villages and three taverns, all under the Akagami Kaizoku's protection.

Neither Shanks nor Buggy have set foot there since they reunion thirteen years ago. Too many memories.

It’s also in the Grand Line.

“Buggy?”

Buggy had sworn to never again leave East Blue. Had sworn up and down that he had learned his lesson the first time around, and while Shanks is of the private opinion that his friend is more than strong enough to survive the Grand Line and the New World, he understands why Buggy doesn’t want to. Understand that Buggy doesn’t think he’s made for it and that he never again wants to get thrown through that particular wringer. He’s not an adrenaline-junkie or an adventure seeker, he’s not a fighter at heart either, and Shanks respects that. Buggy wants a calmer life and refuses to put his crew through what the Rogers put him through, and Shanks can definitely understand that too.

But now Buggy is asking to meet up on the Grand Line, on a island they’ve both avoided for nearly a decade and a half, and Shanks doesn’t know why.

He just hopes that whatever it is, it’s something he can either fix or kill because no one has the right to make his friend sound like _that_.

“I can’t tell you on the phone, Shanks. I… it’s something I need to tell you in person.”

“Buggy, _are you alright?”_ Shanks can’t help but ask again, because he hasn’t heard Buggy sound like that in years, had hoped he would never hear him sound like that ever and _he doesn’t know what happened._

There’s a wry chuckle on the other end, and it sounds far too much like a repressed sob for Shank’s peace of mind.

“No.” The answer is blunt, honest, straight to the point, and it makes Shanks want to rage.

“I’m not hurt, not physically. But I’m not okay either and I can’t tell you anything until we meet up because this is too important for me to mess up.”

“Look Buggy, I can come up to East Blue, that’s not a problem…” Shanks tries, and gets another watery laugh in reply.

“I appreciate the offer Shanks, you have no idea how much I wish I could take you up on it. But there’s something I need to do in the Grand Line after our meeting and it’s something I have to do in person or I will never be able to live with myself afterwards.”

“How will you get there?” Shanks asks, he has to ask, not because he in any way doubts his friend’s skills in navigating Reverse Mountain, but because going through Reverse Mountain these days include going through _Crocus_.

Which is enough of pain in the ass on a good day that Shanks usually abuses his King’s Haki to force a Sea King into dragging the Red Force through the Calm Belt rather than have to deal with the Oro Jackson’s former Doctor. He can’t imagine Buggy wanting to go through that.

“There’s a marine ship leaving tomorrow to resupply in that area. It’s got some individual vessels on board.”

Individual vess…

“Buggy, are you coming _alone?_ ”

Just how bad is whatever Buggy has to tell him that he’s leaving his crew behind?

“I’m not putting them through the bullshit that is the Grand Line.”

His friend’s voice is without appeal, and Shanks winces, because well… He’s met Buggy’s crew a time or two. They seem capable enough, and loyal enough that he felt marginally comfortable leaving his best friend in their care, but none of them had been ready to face the Grand Line back then. And since Buggy had been very explicit in his desire to never go through that that again, that hadn’t been a problem back then. But now, with his friend this rattled and about to stow away on a marine ship and then steal a skiff of some sort? Shanks would definitely feel much better if at least one of them was going to be going with Buggy. Even if he understood why Buggy would never ask them to.

“Okay.” Shanks says, because that’s all he can say. He has faith in Buggy’s ability to make it to Depa on his own. “Okay. I can be there in six days.”

Depa is relatively close to Sabaody, he might even make it in five if he can catch some good winds.

Benn is going to kill him, but if Buggy is going on his own, then so is Shanks. It will draw less attention that way, too.

“Take that Rockstar kid with you at least,” Buggy tells him, because he’s a _hypocrite_ and also knows him too well. “Or Benn will kill us both. You can’t navigate a ship with only _one fucking arm_ , dumbass.”

Shanks should be angry, or at least annoyed by the comment about his missing arm ( _Mihawk’s refusal to fight him still stings like no one’s business)_ but this is Buggy sounding like himself for the first time since this call began, and Shanks knows him well enough to know that Buggy gets prickly when he’s worried.

“Fine. Mother-hen,” he grumbles. “Between you and Benn, no one lets me do anything anymore,” he complains half-heartedly even as he plans the shortest route to Depa.

Loathe as he is to admit it, Buggy is right that he will need help if he wants to make it in time.

And Rockstar can be discreet at least, which is probably why Buggy likes him.

“Be careful, idiot,” Shanks says quietly. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Same to you, dumbass.”

And with that Buggy hangs up, leaving Shanks alone in his dark cabin.

Fuck.

What the hell is going on?

* * *

Shanks carefully puts the receiver back on the snail, before putting the denden back into its habitat.

Then he grabs the map and slams the door open, stomping his way to the main deck.

“Benn!” He shouts out towards his first mate who, as the most sober of his men, is currently holding the rudder. “I need the Red Speed ready to go! Rockstar, you’re with me! The rest of you louts, Benn is in charge until I return!”

“And do we get to know where you’re haring off to in such a lovely temper, boss?” Benn asks him when Shanks reaches him.

“Depa.”

Benn raises an eyebrow, well aware that his captain hasn’t set foot on that particular island in years. “What for?”

“Buggy wants to meet.”

Four little words, and it is a sign of how much Benn has learned from watching Buggy and Shanks interact with each other that the man’s other eyebrow rises in shock.

It’s also a sign of how well matched his second really is to him that his only other reaction is to turn to the rest of them men and yell at them to prepare the Red Speed for a long trip.

“Any idea how long we’ll be gone, Okashira?” Rockstar asks him as Shanks makes his way back to his cabin to throw together a bag with enough necessities to last him a while.

“Anything between two weeks and two months,” Shanks replies, because if Buggy thinks Shanks is going to leave him alone while he has to do whatever it is that has him willingly crossing into the Grand Line, then his friend has another thing coming.

“Gotcha. Should I prepare for the worst and hope for the best?”

“Probably a good idea. I don’t know what Buggy got himself into, but it’s always best to be prepared,” Shanks agreed. “But we’re not to do anything to attract attention to us unless we absolutely have to.”

Rockstar snorts.

“So we’re doing it my way rather than yours, then, Okashira?”

Shanks throws a book at his mouthy subordinate and is satisfied when it hits the man in the face.

“Just for that, you’re handling the night shift.”

* * *

They make it to Depa in five days and a half, and Rockstar looks ready to throw him overboard by the end of the first hour. Shanks feels kind of bad about that, but mostly he’s worried. Really, really worried. So he gives Rockstar twice the usual allowances his crew usually get when they’re on shore, and watches as his spymaster goes off to do his own thing (and hopefully find out more about whatever it is that has Buggy so spooked), then goes to find his friend.

It’s not hard. Buggy hasn’t completely hidden his haki this time, and that only makes Shanks walk faster. Because Buggy’s haki is _in turmoil_ , churning and welling and ebbing like a fucking _whirlpool_ and Buggy’s usually very, very careful not to let anything about his emotional state show in such a way.

He finds Buggy sitting on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the beach where his friend had washed up thirteen years ago, clinging to what was left of small dinghy that had through some miracles made it to the shore before falling apart.

Buggy is looking at the ocean, at the churning waves and at the oncoming storm, and he looks… sad. Quiet and sad, and there’s a bag filled with bottles sitting next to him. The cheap kind, but with some high quality bottles mixed in, which confuses Shanks. The crappy kind is reserved for bad news, the high quality one for good ones - what the hell is going on here?

* * *

He makes his way to where Buggy is sitting, sits down on his friend’s left side.

Takes one look at Buggy’s face and grabs him in a rough hug, his only arm sneaking up behind Buggy’s back and dragging him against him.

Buggy doesn’t even fight it, wraps his own arms around Shanks and Shanks can feel hands clinging to the back of the cloak he’d worn to hide his identity on his way here.

They stay like that for a couple of minutes, until the shaking of Buggy’s shoulders stops and his breath stops shuddering, and they both pretend not to notice that the other’s eyes are wet when they let go and resettle.

They also both pretend not to notice that they both stay close enough that their shoulders are touching, but the contact is grounding them in a way neither of them will admit to.

(Two years on their own, the two of them against the world, and there are still days when Shanks catches himself looking for Buggy by his side in the middle of a fight. They had grown co-dependent, he knows, after those two years, and the three years that had followed had been _hell_ , so fuck anyone who is bothered by their closeness, Shanks likes _knowing_ that his brother in all but blood is still alive despite the hell the universe threw at him, okay?)

“Long time no see,” Shanks smiles in a weak attempt at a greeting. “I see you got there okay. The marines’ still shit at sensing you?”

“Just because you can’t conceal your haki worth shit doesn’t mean no one else can,” Buggy snaps back half-heartedly. “I see you managed to make it here without causing a scene? Rockstar’s influence, I imagine.”

“Har har har, you’re hilarious,” Shanks deadpans, before dropping the façade. “What the hell is going on, Buggy?”

Buggy tenses, lets out a long breath.

“I’ve got shitty news and confusing news. Which one do you want first?”

“The shitty one,” Shanks tells him even as he grabs for one of the crappy bottles and chugs it in one go before grabbing a second one.

“The Queen of Spades died. Seventeen years ago.”

Shanks chokes on his disgusting whisky, spitting it out before lowering his bottle.

“What?!”

No one had heard anything from her since she left her crew shortly before Captain’s execution, but to hear that she had died? How? A woman like Blackjack D. Rouge would not have gone quietly, not in a million years. Someone would have heard about it, would have reported it, _something_!

“How?” He asks, once he thinks he can do so without choking again.

Buggy hesitates, and Shanks flinches. Oh, this is not going to be good.

* * *

“Did you know,” Buggy starts, pauses, downs his own bottle in one go before continuing. “That she was originally from Baterilla?”

Shanks freezes. Baterilla.

(Smoke and pyres and small bodies and pregnant women killed on the slightest suspicion, an entire generation of that island’s population _slaughtered_ and they had gotten here _too late_ and had only been able to witness the carnage and…)

(It had only taken a rumour, one any of the Rogers would have been able to tell the Marines was _bullshit_ because Captain would have told them if he had had a kid on the way, he would! and Baterilla had been doomed and it had all been their fault and...)

(And no one had ever asked and it had all been their fault, Captain’s fault, for growing too big for their britches and not thinking that someone would come after them, for not making _sure_ there would be nothing for them to find, nothing for the marines to hunt down innocent people for and...)

He doesn’t even realises he’s shaking until the bottle drops from his limp fingers and Buggy’s hands grip his forearm strong enough to leave bruises.

Strong enough to drag him back to the present, and Shanks sends him a grateful look even as he struggles to put himself together.

“She was pregnant,” he realises, voice ashen. “She left her crew because she was _pregnant_.”

“She was,” Buggy aggrees. “I think… I think she had just planned on visiting family, but got stuck when the blockade started.”

Gods. Blackjack D. Rouge had gone home to share good news with her family and had found herself facing the gallows because the Marines had been hunting down rumours about Gol D. Roger’s child.

“Did they…” he can’t even bring himself to finish the thought. Rouge’s bounty had been _high_ , not quite as high as Captain’s, but high enough that any bounty hunter would have been set for _life_ if they had brought her in (well, a _short_ life since her crew would have happened to the idiot in a short time, but still.). If the marines had found her, pregnant and alone...

Buggy shakes his head.

“No,” he says, and Shanks lets out a breath he hadn’t known he had been holding. “She managed to hide it and, somehow, I have no idea how, that menace managed to extend her pregnancy by eleven months. But… there were no more doctors there, Shanks. The purge had come down so hard on any medical professional in the area, to force them to report births and terminate pregnancies in suspicious cases, all of them had left, couldn’t take it anymore. From what I understand, she was had no access to medical help of any sort until the birth itself, and by then…” Buggy gulps. “She didn’t make it.”

That… that is so fucking _unfair_. The Queen of Spades had managed to evade the Marines for so long, only for her to die in childbirth because she couldn’t get medical treatment. That’s just… so fucking unfair.

And not the whole of the story, because Buggy would not be in that state if that was the only information he had found. Because Buggy had respected the Blackjack Captain, yes, and so had Shanks, and they had known her better than some though not better than most, but not enough to warrant the kind of emotional turmoil his friend is going through right now. Not even the guilt that this happened because the marines were so scared of the _idea_ of their Captain reproducing that they had culled an entire generation based on a fucking _rumour_.

“What aren’t you telling me, Buggy?” he asks because he _has to_ , because none of this makes sense and Buggy is still shaking even if he’s trying to hide it and fuck but he’s not going to like this, is he?

“Her child survived. His name is Portgas D. Ace, he has her freckles and her curls and he just set sails a few months ago. And he had _no idea_ that his mother was a pirate until I told him about her. And you know why?” Buggy asks, a hysterical tinge tinting his voice. He’s still gripping Shanks’ arm too tightly, but doesn’t even seem aware of it anymore. “ _Because Gol D. Roger had the bright idea to give his son to Monkey D. Garp to raise_.”

* * *

Shanks freezes. Drops his hand. Puts the bottle of cheap whiskey on the ground. Takes a breath. Then another.

In.

And out.

In.

And out.

 _Because Gol D. Roger had the bright idea to give his son to Monkey D. Garp to raise_.

Captain had had a son.

Captain had had a son with Blackjack D. Rouge.

Captain had had a son with Blackjack D. Rouge and hadn’t told his crew.

Captain had had a son with Blackjack D. Rouge and hadn’t told his crew but had told Monkey D. Garp. _A marine_. Captain had trusted a marine with his son over his crew.

The bottle in front of him shatters into pieces.

* * *

He doesn’t ask Buggy if he’s sure. Buggy wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t, wouldn’t have forced himself to go through the Grand Line again if he wasn’t, wouldn’t be in this state if he wasn’t.

 _Because Gol D. Roger had the bright idea to give his son to Monkey D. Garp to raise_.

Monkey D. Fucking Garp. The man famous for being the man who ‘brought Gol D. Roger in’ when anyone with a fucking brain knows that Captain gave himself up because he was sick and wanted to go out in a burst of glory _and Shanks will never forgive him for it_ ). Captain trusted that man with the life of his son before the boy was even born, when he couldn’t trust his crew with the kid’s _existence_ . And yes, objectively Shanks can see why one of the Rogers taking the kid in would have been a bad idea, but not even telling them? _Any of them?_

(Because for all that he will never trust the others like he once used to, he truly believes that they would have told him if they had known.)

(Has to believe that, for his own sanity.)

Why not the Blackjacks? Why not ask any of them? Why not _tell_ any of them? Because Shanks has met Yadomaru a few times over the year, and knows that she’s still searching for her captain, and _fuck_ , that’s what Buggy meant when he said he had something to do in the Grand Line, didn’t he? Fuck, this is going to _suck_ , and Yadomaru is going to _explode_ but fuck, Buggy’s right, the Blackjacks deserve to know what happen to their captain, and that it’s all _their_ captain’s fault, and they deserve to hear it from them.

And fuck, Monkey D. Garp, that means that the boy might even have been on Dawn Island when Shanks had been there. He doesn’t think Luffy knew of him back then, the boy hadn’t mentioned anyone by that name, but _fuck_ . Shanks had been _this close_ to his captain’s son and hadn’t known it.

Confusing news indeed.

* * *

“What is he like?” Shanks asks, and his voice croaks and he is shaking, but he is breathing again.

He shifts his arm so Buggy’s hands are clasping his own. He’s going to have bruises, but right now he doesn’t give a damn.

(And it’s _good_ , that Buggy has never treated him like glass since he lost his arm. Buggy had yelled at him over the denden when Benn had called him to tell him, had made his way to the small island the Akagami Kaizoku had bunked down on while their captain healed to yell at him some more in person, had called him an idiot and a moron and dared him to become an Emperor despite it.)

(Had broken down as soon as they were alone in his cabin, had yelled at Shanks and told him that he was the only family Buggy had left and that he wasn’t allowed to die on him too.)

“Portgas D. Ace. He’s seventeen, and he’s just… so much like Rouge I didn’t notice he was Captain’s too.” Buggy lets go of Shanks’ hand with one hand, grabs his bottle, takes a sip, stares at the ocean. “He fights like her, too - but with a pipe instead of a staff. Named his crew the ‘Spades’ - and he had no clue who his mother had been, that she had been called the Queen of Spades, he just liked the name - and they seem like good people.”

He puts the bottle down, grab something from his pocket and puts it on the ground in front of Shanks.

“That’s his bounty. So here I am, restocking on this island in the middle of nowhere, and I find this rookie and his fledgling crew and I decide to see if they have what it takes. Because it’s harsh, out there, and too many of the young ones have no clue what they’re getting into. And then we’re fighting and he has freckles and curls and he uses that pipe like a fucking staff.”

Buggy pauses.

“So here I am, having fucking flashbacks of that time I pissed Rouge off, and I stop and say ‘why did no one tell me that that menace had reproduced?’”

Shanks has to snort, because this is such a _Buggy_ thing to say.

“Kid looks ready to kill me, until I mention that I was not going to piss that woman off, no thank you.” Buggy gulps. “Asked me if I had known his mother. Hell of a way to find out she’d kicked the bucket seventeen years ago. So we go to his ship and I start telling him about her and suddenly I realise that that’s Captain face. Without the moustache and thirty five years younger, but that’s Captain’s face. And you know what else I realise, Shanks?”

Buggy finishes his bottle in one go, grabs another and drinks half of that one before he continuing.

“The kid _hates_ Gol D. Roger. Hates that he was born the son of the Pirate King. He only knows what Garp and the world told him about Captain, and the world told him that any child of the Pirate King should have been killed at birth. He knows about Baterilla, Shanks. He’s seventeen and he knows about Baterilla and he thinks he should never have been born.”

Shanks heart is breaking and fury is welling up inside him and _he wants to kill Monkey D. Garp with all he has._

“He doesn’t want to admit to anyone, not even himself, that Captain was his father. That’s why he nearly killed me, because he thought I was talking about Roger when I said ‘that menace’. So when I realised that he was Captain’s son, and he could see that I knew, and he asked me whose crew I had been sailing with when I met his mom… I had a choice. I could have lied. But I didn’t.”

Buggy’s hand is tightening around Shanks’ fingers again.

“I told him about it. About being a Roger Kaizoku. The good and the bad. About Roger being ill - he had no idea, Shanks, he thought Roger had just abandoned his mother, as if Rouge wouldn’t have had his _balls_ if he had tried - and giving himself up.”

Buggy gulps.

“I told him that Roger probably thought he was protecting someone special when he did that, but that I still, to this day, believe that he wanted to go out in a burst of glory more than he wanted to linger for months on his sickbed. And that I still hate him for it.”

* * *

Shanks tightens his own fingers around Buggy. They never talked about it, before, but they both knew what the other thought.

Roger had been courting death for months before he disbanded the crew. Had chased adventure after adventure, each one more dangerous than the last, without regard for his own safety (and not enough for the safety of the rest of them). Rayleigh could try and couch it as Roger having faith in their abilities all he wanted, but fact was that Roger had been trying to get Davy Jones’ attention and had only belatedly realised that if he went on like that, he was going to drag them all with him. In hindsight, that’s probably what made him decide to disband the crew (even if the asshole could have at least _talked_ to them about it instead of just. Springing it on them out of nowhere!), the fact that they would have been safer without him.

And that it was easy to imagine him doing the same to Rouge, for all that he had apparently wanted to spend what time he had left with her. For all the good it had done! Captain apparently hadn’t been subtle enough if rumors had reached the Marines, and then fucking _Baterilla_ had happened and Roger had been too dead to protect Rouge and their unborn child. And with neither of their crews in the know, no one could come to her help.

No one other than Monkey fucking D. Garp, apparently, and fuck but Shanks was going to punch his Captain in the face when his time to meet Davy Jones came, because _what the fuck_ . What the bleeding fuck had Captain been thinking? The man couldn’t even been trusted with his own _son_ , what with Dragon leaving as soon as he was able to start a bloody _Revolution_ , rising against everything his father stood for (though apparently Dragon had been stupid enough to trust Garp with his own son _when he should have bloody known better so who the fuck even knows anymore_ ), and Shanks had _seen_ how miserable Luffy had been on Fuusha. How lonely the kid had been _because his grandpa only showed up twice a year to throw him through the wringer and call it training_.

If Shanks hadn’t sworn to never put a kid through what he and Buggy had been through, he would have dragged Luffy onto his ship five minutes after meeting him. The temptation is still there. Anchor would be what, fourteen now?

(Fourteen is how old he and Buggy were when Captain died. Fourteen is way too young to be hung out to dry like they had been.)

(Fourteen is probably old enough to be a cabin boy in Paradise. But not in the Shin Sekai, and that’s where Shanks has to stay most of the time because he is a Yonko now, and he has responsibilities towards the people under his protection and he will not let them down.)

* * *

“What did he say to that?” Shanks asks, because right now this isn’t about him or Garp or Luffy, this is about Portgas D. Ace.

Buggy snorts. It still sounds too much like a sob.

“He didn’t say anything. So I told him to track down Yadomaru and the rest of that lot for more stories about his mother, then gave him my vivre card and my number if he ever felt like asking more that idiot captain I sailed with. Left the choice up to him. He said he didn’t know what to do, so we both went and got shitfaced because fuck, we were too sober for this bullshit.”

Shanks has to agree with that assessment. He’s too sober for it too, honestly, and he finally forces himself to let go of Buggy’s fingers to grab another bottle, and deliberately doesn’t look at the shards of his previous one. He hasn’t lost control of himself that badly in _years_ , but fuck if he doesn’t have an excuse this time.

“He told me about your brat,” Buggy went on, quietly this time. “The Luffy kid. Wears that damn strawhat all the fucking time apparently. Seems that they’ve adopted each other as brothers in the last couple of years. The brat will set off in three years - there’s a promise of some kind to set sail at seventeen.”

“They know each other?” Shanks smiles, because if anyone can help Ace see that his existence matter, it’s Anchor. The kid just won’t let go of his precious people.

“Yeah. Small world, isn’t it? Portgas said he wanted to find you, too, because you had saved Luffy and if you hadn’t they would never have met. So he’s been trying to find you so he can thank you in person.”

Shanks feels his body fill with warmth at the idea. Meeting Captain’s son… no, not Captain’s son, but Portgas D. Ace, because the boy is his own person and has never met Captain and doesn’t want to be known as Gol D. Roger’s son, but meeting Portgas D. Ace, the one Luffy calls his brother, that sounds… good.

“He said he was going to try and find the Blackjacks, and that he would get in touch with us when he felt ready. But…” And Buggy is hesitating again, not looking at Shanks. “He doesn’t want any of the others to know about him. Not yet, at least.”

* * *

Buggy doesn’t have to spell it out for Shanks to know who he’s talking about. The rest of the Roger Pirates.

And Shanks should feel bad about it, about not even thinking about telling them before, but… It’s Ace’s choice. It’s Ace’s choice, and Ace wants nothing to do with the Pirate King’s heritage.

And, as someone who has been hunted by Gol D. Roger’s enemies until he became strong enough to fight back on his own, and who never got any back-up from his previous crew… Well. Shanks is not going to be telling them any time soon.

(Because it would be up to Shanks, because he’s the only one who is still in contact with the Roger Kaizoku - even if it was by accident, what with a half-dead Shanks literally stumbling upon Rayleigh in Sabaody a year and a half after getting separated from Buggy by that freak storm. Rayleigh had shanghaied him into training for the next six months, and for all that Shanks is grateful for that training, it doesn’t change the fact that _none of them tried to look for him_ . Or for Buggy. They had been _children_ when the Marines had executed their Captain and yet no one had looked out for them. No one had even tried to keep track of where they were. Rayleigh’s answer to Shanks’ frantic questions about Buggy’s whereabouts had caused one of Shanks’ rare accidental bursts of King’s Haki - which had been what had prompted Rayleigh into giving him more training in the first place. )

_(“Buggy? That loud-mouthed brat is still a pirate?”)_

(Shanks has never told Buggy about that. But he’s pretty sure Buggy knows exactly what Rayleigh thinks of him. After all, for all that the rest of the Rogers have vaguely kept in touch with Shanks since he was picked up by Rayleigh, none of them have ever attempted to contact Buggy since Captain’s execution. Not once.)

(It’s not even like Buggy is hard to find. He has a bounty, even if it’s small, and he never leaves East Blue. Hell, they could just have _asked_ . Shanks would have been happy to tell them - after checking if Buggy even _wanted_ to talk to them in the first place. But not a single one of them had tried. Not Rayleigh. Not Crocus. Not Seagull or Rush or Riza or Elena or Marian or Scopper Gaban or Roban. No one.)

(Yeah. There’s no way Shanks will tell them about Portgas D. Ace.)

* * *

Shanks sighs, and reaches for one of the better quality bottle.

“Well,” He says as he uncorks it with his teeth. “The kid sounds like an interesting rookie, that’s for sure.”

Buggy laughs, and it’s sounds genuine for the first time since Shanks talked to him on the Denden a week ago. His friend reaches for the other high quality bottle, clinking it to Shanks’.

“To interesting brats taking over the seas?” Buggy suggests, raising an eyebrow.

“May they make the Marines’ lives _very_ interesting indeed,” Shanks aggrees, because he’s not above being petty and cursing the Marine with a ‘may you live in interesting times’ sounds like something Rouge would approve of.

They raise their bottles in a toast to future hellions.

“Wait!” He says suddenly, turning to face Buggy properly. “How the _hell_ did Captain manage to convince the Queen of Spade that he was worth her time?”

“Hell if I know,” Buggy shrugs.

There’s a pause, and then their eyes meet and suddenly they’re laughing, laughing until their eyes are crying, because it’s just. It’s been that kind of evening and Shanks has gone through all kinds of emotions tonight but this still completely _baffles_ him and that’s hilarious.

* * *

It takes them a long time to calm down, and by then the sun has gone down completely.

“What now?” Shanks asks, lying down on the grass and looking up at the crescent moon.

Buggy winces even as he lies down next to him, fingers laced behind his head.

“Now I make my way to the Stenographer and pray to Davy Jones that Yadomaru doesn’t kill me as soon as I pass the door,” he replies wryly. “The kid agreed that the Blackjacks deserved to know what had happened to their Captain, preferably before he shows up in their bar.”

“Aw hell,” Shanks winces too. “She’s going to _destroy_ us.”

Buggy freezes.

“What do you mean, _us?_ ”

“What, did you honestly think I was going to let you walk into their den without me? That hurts Buggy, I’m not that cruel you know.”

That, and Shanks had missed his fellow cabin brat. It had been over two years since they had last seen each other, what with Shanks mostly staying in the Shin Sekai these days and Buggy staying firmly in East Blue. Besides, Buggy’s presence still feels brittle, and Shanks refuses to leave his friend alone when he’s in that kind of state. Especially not when Buggy is facing the Grand Line again for the first time in thirteen years.

“You just want to escape your paperwork for a while longer,” Buggy counters, but Shanks knows him well enough to recognize the relief in his tone.

“Maa maa, you know me too well,” Shanks smiles. “I’ll have to keep Rockstar around, but he’s a decent navigator even if he has terrible taste in booze, so what do you say? Shall we go and beard the dragons in their own lair?”

Buggy laughs.

“That paintstripper from your hometown does not deserve the name of booze,” he says. “And if we piss the dragons off, I’m feeding you to them. Hopefully, they’ll be too drunk off your blood alcohol to bother with me afterwards.”

“Waaa~” Shanks protests loudly. “So mean!”

But he’s smiling.

He’s smiling, because even if Blackjack D. Rouge died seventeen years ago, she lived long enough to bring a son into the world.

He’s smiling, because that boy sounds just as interesting as his mother had been.

He’s smiling, because his Captain might be dead, might have never gotten to know his son, but he helped give Shanks’ Anchor a brother.

He’s smiling, because Buggy is here, because Buggy trusted him enough for Shanks to be his first port of call once he learned about Portgas D. Ace.

But mostly, he’s smiling because they will be alright.

Buggy and Ace and Luffy and Shanks and even the Blackjacks.

It’s going to hurt for a while, but in the end they will be alright.

(Shanks is still going to _hurt_ Monkey D. Garp the next time he sees him, though. That’s non-negotiable.)

**Author's Note:**

> Before anyone asks...  
> YES there will be a third part telling the tale of how our two favourite former cabin brats break the news to the Blackjacks. Because well. This has taken over my life now.


End file.
